“Tween” Disney

In addition to marketing the Princess brand to both younger girls and soon-to-be married women, Disney has also found a highly successful niche in the all-important tween market. Although they have not fully integrated the “Princess” into their tween products yet, “The Disney Channel” has become a staple for tweens, with shows from Lizzie Maguire to That’s So Raven to Hannah Montana, along with “Disney Channel Original Movies” like the ever-more-popular High School Musical, Jump In, and The Cheetah Girls. These shows/movies are much more than just tween-oriented television programming though.

Disney has learned that they can market not just their programs but also their actors and actresses, and has been known for jump-starting the careers of stars like Lindsay Lohan (remember Disney’s 1998 version of Parent Trap?) and Hilary Duff. But just because Disney has succeeded in becoming a tween-‘Mecca’ of entertainment does not mean that they are not still trying to inject some “Disney Princess” into their tween-market.

The following videos illustrate Disney’s motivation to do so, combining classic “Disney Princess” scenes, characters, and movies with the “Disney Channel Circle of Stars” and a modern and pop sound to try and entice tweens to hearken back to their girl-hood yearning for that glass slipper.

9 Responses

That’s an interesting point, about how Disney tries to draw older viewers (in this case, tweens) back to its more ‘childish’ products, like the Disney princesses. It seems like, by doing this, it infantilizes the viewers while also selling them the ‘cool older kids’ version of things, which makes for an innocent-yet-mature type of audience (http://tweenscene.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/a-dream-is-a-wish-your-heart-makes/).